Against All The Odds
by Sasha.Rizzoli
Summary: Olivia is the new girl at school and during the 1st week alone her rocky relationship with her mother takes a sudden twist. And friendships come and make other certain changes in her life. Can she hold it together?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Here is a story I started writing a couple months ago. Thanks to Iwannahamberger2 for letting me manipulate the idea in to a story. Please read and review for more. Some school things could be wrong because I think the schools are run differently here.  
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**Disclaimer: Don't own anyone or anything you recognize.**

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"See you later, mom," sixteen year old Olivia Benson says as she exits the vehicle.

"See you, sweetheart," her mother, Serena Benson, replies and starts up the car again.

It will be the last time she sees her mother sober until tomorrow morning.

Stepping on to the sidewalk, Olivia closes the car door and takes a deep breath to try and compose herself. Prepare herself.

She turns around and looks at the groups of teens chatting and fooling around. Groups surrounding benches, other sitting on tables and some just standing or leaning against walls.

Her new school.

The school bell rings and Olivia adventures in to the school yard. She has math first up and if she remembers correctly from her school tour last week, her class is upstairs, a few classes up past the upstairs restroom facilities. Room twenty nine.

Weaving through the crowds of unfamiliar people, Olivia makes her way in to the building and up the stairs.

She finally finds her first period class and walks in, nervously. All eyes are on her. She shakes off their stares and heads for the desk in the back left hand corner, to keep to herself.

Olivia keeps her head down until she feels a presence in front of her. She looks up and sees a tall, athletic built, strawberry blonde haired girl.

"That's my spot," she snarls at Olivia.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Olivia whispered and goes to stand up but the girl gently puts a hand on her shoulder and gently pushes her back down, confusing her.

"Forget it," the namesless girl whipers and sits at the next desk over. "I'm Casey..." she introduces herself. "Your first day?"

Looking over at Casey, Olivia nods shyly. "Yes, it is."

"You going to tell me your name or not?"

"Oh, sorry. I'm Olivia."

"Nice to meet you, Olivia."

"Nice to meet you too, Casey," Olivia nods with a small smile.

There is a moment's stare as they continue to wait for their teacher to arrive.

"You met anyone else yet?" Casey finally asks.

Olivia shakes her head. "No, not yet. I was late this morning. I missed home group," she explains. "But I saw lots of people hanging around out the front though."

Seeing the teacher finally walk in in to the classroom, Casey quickly nods. "Yeah, you always will. The popular kids and the naughty kids," she explains simply.

"Okay, class. Welcome back from summer vacation. I'm Mr Roberts... I understand we have a new student starting today. Olivia Benson, please stand up, let the class see you," says the tall, thin, short, sandy brown haired man, who looked maybe about thirty two years old.

Sighing, Olivia gets up and quickly sits back down again.

"Okay, time to get your books out," he tells the class and moves to the whiteboard.

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The bell rings, signalling the end of first period and the class all get up and leave the room.

"Olivia Benson, please stay behind," Mr Roberts says as she tries to leave with the rest of the students.

Olivia groans and turns back, heading towards the teacher's desk. "Yes?" she asks, confused as to why Mr Roberts wants to talk to her. She didn't get in to any trouble during the class. "Yes, Mr Roberts?"

The teacher looks her up and down, each time stopping at her chest. He is eyeing her breasts. He finally looks up at Olivia's face when she speaks up.

"You finished staring at my boobs?!" she snaps with her hands on her hips.

Blushing, Mr Roberts clears his throat. "I'm sorry... Are you handling the class work okay?"

Olivia nods. "Yes, it's fine. I was in the advance classes at my old school," she explains.

"Right, well, I will see you tomorrow. You can go now."

"Okay," Olivia replies and quickly walks out before the teacher and summon her back.

She opens the door and walks out in to the corridor but startles seeing Casey standing against a wall, one knee bent, her sneaker flat against the wall. "You're still here? Shouldn't you be in your next class already?"

Casey shrugs, unconcerned. "Yeah, but I was waiting for you. What class you got now?"

Olivia takes her timetable out of her pocket and has a look. "History with Mrs Tomkin."

"Me too," Casey laughs shyly. "We better hurry up. She'll be grumpy cause we're late."

Shrugging, Olivia puts her timetable back in to her pocket. "Where are your friends?" she asks as they head toward their second period class.

Casey sighs. "Don't really have any," she tells Olivia sadly.

"Oh okay. Well I know how you feel in that department... I didn't really have any friends at my old school."

Casey tilts her head in confusion. "Why not? You sound really nice to me."

"There's a lot that you don't know about me and when you find out you'll hate me..."

Right beside the class room door, Casey stops Olivia. "Don't play the pity game with me alright."

Olivia licks her dry lips and nods. "Okay."

The class door opens and an older lady pops her head out. "Casey Novak? Get in to class now. You're late... And who are you? Are you in this class?"

"Yes, miss," Olivia answered with a nod.

"Well you're both late. Get in here now," Mrs Tomkin scolds and opens the door fully to allow them room to enter.

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The day drags on but lunch finally rolls around and it finds Olivia and Casey sitting in the cafeteria, eating and making small talk.

"Tell me about yourself, Olivia... What? What are you staring at?"

Olivia shakes her head and clears her throat. "Sorry. What were you saying?'

Casey turns a little and sighs, seeing who she was loking at. A popular guy. A hot popular guy to be exact.

"Casey?"

Casey turns back and says, "Sorry... I asked you to tell me about yourself... If we're going to be friends, we should know about each other."

"Um, okay..." Olivia replies unsure. She'd been back-stabbed before, so she wasn't sure if she could but this girl, sitting in front of her, seemed to be trustworthy and genuine. "My name is Olivia Marie Benson. My birthday is May tenth and I am an only child of a single mother," she states simply, not wanting to go in to detail about herself, especially about how was conceived or about her mother.

Casey nods. "My name is Casey Leigh Novak. My birthday is September fifteenth and I am the middle child of three. I have an older brother, who is nineteen and a younger sister, who is five."

"What are their names?" asks Olivia.

"Patrick and Andrea."

Olivia smiles. "Cool," she replies and sighs sadly. "I wish I had brothers and sisters."

"It's not always glamourous," Casey laughs, "my brother just loves to boss me around."

"Yeah but I'd perfer that over being lonely," she whispers.

Casey takes a breath and exhales it slowly. "You want to come over my house tonight?"

Smiling slightly, Olivia nods. "Sure, that would be nice. Thank you."

"No problem. My sister will love you... What class you got next?"

Olivia pushes her lunch to the side and gets her timetable out again. "Umm... Gym," she groans.

"So have I... Let me look at your timetable."

Olivia passes her new friend her timetable and watches Casey look it over.

"Well, my friend," Casey laughs, passing it back to Olivia. "You're in my home group and all my classes."

"Really?" Olivia asks, furrowing her brows.

Casey nods. "Yep."

"Cool... Any girls I should protect myself from, that could be in our gym class?"

Casey thinks to herself for a moment before answering, "Yes. Jessica, Bethany, Dana and Krystal... oh and Kathy, but she doesn't speak much. She's going out with Elliot, the guy you were looking at though."  
Olivia sighs. There goes her chance with the hot guy but it didn't mean she couldn't flirt. "You going to give me their last names?"

"To be honest, I don't even know their last names. I never paid any attention. Trust me, you'll know who they are when you see them," Casey assures her.

"Lovely," Olivia grumbles, sarcastically.

"They're harmless. I've never seen them actually physically hurt anyone... well besides tripping people over, that's about the extent that I've seen."

"Well, I guess we'll find out sooner or later because if they say anything rude about me or you, I will react. I won't put up with it," Olivia says adamantly.

"No, don't. I don't know what they're actually capable of," Casey tells her.

"I don't care. I don't take crap from anyone," Olivia stresses and shakes her head. "I get enough of that at home," she mumbles under her breath.

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Looking at all the girls in the changing room, Olivia becomes very nervous.

"What's wrong?" Casey asks and puts a hand on Olivia's shoulder, accidentally startling her. "Whoa! You alright?"

Olivia clears her throat and nods quickly. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I just hate gym."

"Don't worry, I do too. Let's go get changed in the cubicles," Casey suggests and the two of them head over there.

Heading in to the gym for class, Casey notices that she and Olivia were the last two to walk in and all the girls were staring at them.

"Oh look! Nice of you two to finally join us," one girl called out.

"Dana, leader of the group," Casey whispers and Olivia nods.

"We better join in. Hopefully it will go by quickly."

"Yeah," Olivia sighs. "Let's get this over with."

Playing a game of dodge ball, a girl, who Casey told Olivia was Krystal, throws the ball at Olivia and strikes her in the face, purposely.

"Ahh!" Olivia cries and falls to the hardwood floor, holding her bloody nose. "You bitch!" she yells at the red haired girl.

"Don't cry, you big baby!" Krystal laughs.

"Screw you!" Olivia yells and gets up before walking off the court, heading for the change rooms.

The teacher doesn't do a thing in way of applying first aid and Olivia is shocked but doesn't care. She doesn't want the added attention.

Olivia rushes in to a cubicle to grab some toilet paper before heading back over to the sinks.

"You okay?"

The voice startles Olivia and she looks up to see Casey standing there, leaning against one of the porcelain basins.

"What are you doing in here?"

"To help you. It's what friends do," Casey replies, simply, and gently takes the toilet paper from Olivia's hand before turning to face the basin and looking at Olivia in the reflection of the mirror as she wet the paper.

Olivia was still trying to get the blood to stop streaming but so far, no success.

"Here, try this. It's cold and wet. I don't know what I'm doing but I'm trying," Casey says and passes the wet item to Olivia. "Let's ditch after this."

Agreeing in an instant, Olivia nods. "Sounds great," she answers as they bleeding finally starts to slow down.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you to the people who took the 2 minutes to review. This chapter is for the wonderful reviewers. Some of Olivia and Casey's friendship is based on a friendship I had in high school. Please read and review for more. There will be a longer wait between chapters unless reviews pick up.  
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**Disclaimer: Don't own anyone or anything you recognize.**

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Olivia and Casey walk down the subway and catch the first train which stops at the station. They don't care which direction that it is heading, especially since they both know the city like the back of their hands.

Coming up to a certain station, Olivia taps Casey's thigh. "Let's get off here and get some tea or coffee."

Casey nods and they both get up as the train slows, as it slowly reaches the stop. "I could really use some caffiene right now," Casey laughs as they step off the busy train on to a much busier platform.

Olivia laughs with her new friend as they weave through the crowds of people. "Me too. Me too."

The girls walk up the stairs and up to the street.

Olivia suddenly stops and groans. "Oh crap."

"What?" asks Casey, confused.

Pointing at a woman walking away from the coffee shop, Olivia says, "My mom."

"Where?" Casey asks, trying to see where Olivia was pointing through the crowds of people.

"See that woman over there with the dyed blond hair and coffee in hand? In the skirt and jacket?" Olivia describes, still pointing.

Casey nods. "Yeah. She's your mom? What's she do?"

Olivia sighs as they slowly walk over toward the bustling coffee shop. "She's an English Professor."

"Wow, um, is that cool?" Casey asks curiously and Olivia shakes her head.

"Nope," Olivia replies simply and walks in to the shop.

Casey walks in behind her and they line up to order. "Why?"

"She's always correcting my grammar, it drives me insane," Olivia confesses and goes to order herself a cup of tea.

Casey orders herself a coffee and they take a seat in a booth in the back corner away from everyone else, while they wait for their hot beverages. They are the only teenagers in the whole place.

"She always corrects your grammar? Man, that sucks."

"Yeah," Olivia sighs, "and she makes me read for an hour each night and that's straight after I do my homework. I can't even pick the books I read, she does. But I don't read, if she's not home."

"That sucks."

Olivia nods. "Sure does."

"Want to come over to my house tonight? Will you be able to? You can tell your mom that we're doing homework together," Casey suggests.

A young waitress gets to the table with their drinks and asks who ordered which before placing them on the table and walking away.

Knowing that her mother wouldn't be home till late and would be drunk, Olivia nods. "Sure, why not. She's busy tonight anyway. I'll probably be in bed by the time she gets home anyway."

"Cool." Casey smiles and takes a sip of her coffee.

Olivia takes a small drink of her tea and takes out her timetable. "Damn," she mutters to herself, reading it.

"What's wrong?" Casey asks, furrowing her brows.

"I'm missing my favourite subject."  
Looking over at the timetable, Casey shakes her head. "What? Drama?"

Olivia laughs lightly and nods. "Yeah. It is, much to my mother's chagrin. She wants me to be in to English and Literature, just like she is."

Casey laughs too. "My parents want me to be perfect at math but I'm not too good."

"I could help you," Olivia offers.

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Thanks." She smiles at Olivia and they both take a drink.

"No problem... Hey, what usually happens when you ditch class at this school?"

"Ah, I'm not sure. Never done it on my own before," Casey confesses.

Olivia shrugs her shoulders and takes a sip of her tea. "Oh well, it will just give my mom something else to have a go at me about."

Thinking, Casey licks her bottom lip before asking cautiously, "What about your dad? Do you ever see..." she stops upon seeing Olivia's sad facial expression. "Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," she apologizes and looks away as she takes a drink.

"It's okay," Olivia assures Casey, confusing her and causing her to look back at her.

"You sure?" Casey double checks.

Olivia nods and takes a deep breath, exhaling it sluggishly. "I've never met my father... Never even seen a photo... Or ever know his name."

"Oh... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it up."

"No, no, it's okay. You didn't know but could we please change the subject though?

"Yeah sure, no problem."

"Thank you," Olivia replies with a small smile. "So what do your parents do?"

"Ah, my mom is is a nurse and my dad is a lawyer."

"Cool," Olivia answers, not knowing what else to say.

"Hey, you want to start to head back because when school's finished, I have to pick Andrea up from the elementary school down the road from our school."

"Sure," Olivia replies as she and Casey get up, thankful that they had requested takeaway cups.

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It takes longer to get back to school but Olivia and Casey make the time worth it. They talk all the way back, getting to know one another. But Olivia still has yet to mention her deepest, most painful secret as they reach their school. She still isn't comfort telling her new friend about how she was concieved.

They reach the school yard gate, just as the last bell rings for the day.

"Well, let's go pick Andrea up," Casey says, just as the school building doors open and teenagers start to emerge.

Olivia nods and they start to walk in the direction of the local elementary school.

"So how far away do you live?" Olivia asks.

"Only about twenty minutes from the elementary school. How about you?"

"About a forty five minute walk."

"You've never walked to school though. You said your mom dropped you off."

Olivia sighs. "I needed to get away from my mom yesterday, so I walked down to school. I wanted to see how long it would take because my mom will only rarely drop me off... She's an alcoholic, Casey."

"Oh," Casey says with a slight nod. "Well, I'll ask my parents but I'm sure that they'll agree, if you have any problems with your mom, you can stay at our place."

"Thanks for the offer but I'll be okay," Olivia says softly.

Casey nods in response and a little auburn red haired girl comes running toward them with a small pink backpack bouncing up and down on her back.

"Casey!" she screeches happily and gives her a hug.

"Hey shorty," Casey greets her little sister, returning the hug. "Andrea, this is my new friend, Olivia. Olivia, this is Andrea."

Olivia squats down to Andrea's height and is surprised when Andrea gives her a hug. "Hi Andrea," Olivia greets her, returning the youngster's hug.

"Hi Livia," Andrea replies with an innocent giggle as Olivia stood up properly. "Are you coming over to our house?"

"Sure am," Olivia answers with a smile.

"Cool," Andrea giggles again and takes a hold of both Olivia's and Casey's hands, so she is walking between them. "I like you. You're very pretty," she says as they continue to walk.

The compliment causes Olivia to blush. "Why thank you, Little Miss Andrea."

Casey laughs. "She doesn't even say that to me and I'm her big sister. I'd say you're very lucky, Olivia."

"Thanks," Olivia replies, genuinely. No-one has ever called her pretty before.

As they walk, Olivia becomes quiet and distant before stopping at a bar and peering through a window. Pulling away, she sighs.

"Olivia, what is it?" Casey asks concerned.

Olivia licks her dry lips and shakes her head.

"Your mom in there?" she asks softly as they gently swing Andrea back and forth between them as they walk.

Sadly, Olivia nods. "Yes, with her fiancé."

"Fiancé?"

"Yeah, I try to pretend that he doesn't exist. I try to ignore him," she confesses.

"Does he hurt you?" asks Casey as they continue to swing Andrea in between them, trying to keep her content while they talk.

Shaking her head, Olivia licks her bottom lip. "We shouldn't talk about this stuff in front of Andrea," she says, concerned that the five year old might hear something that is inappropriate for her to hear.

Casey nods in agreement. "Of course. We'll talk over homework."

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Walking in to the elegant, quiet, two storey house in a classy neighbourhood, Andrea releases both Olivia's and Casey's hands and runs inside, calling out, "Mommy! Mommy!"

"In the kitchen, 'Drea!" Mrs Novak calls back and Andrea runs in there.

"Come meet my mom, Olivia," Casey says as they dump their backpacks by the wall in the foyer.

"Okay," Olivia replies unsure.

Casey practically drags Olivia in to the kitchen.

Olivia see Andrea talking to a tall, slightly overweight woman with auburn red hair and green eyes. Casey looks a lot like her but she obviously has her father's eye colour.

Mrs Novak looks up just in time to see her eldest daughter and a stranger standing in the doorway. "Hi Casey, honey. Who's this?" she asks, a slight Irish accent detectable in her voice.

"Mom, this is Olivia. Olivia, this is my mom."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs Novak," Olivia greets her and extends her hand.

Instead of shaking Olivia's hand, Mrs Novak gives her a hug. "We hug in this family. Nice to meet you, darlin'. Call me Lindsay. Why don't the two of you head upstairs and get started on your homework? I'll bring up some cookies and milk. You aren't allergic to anything, are you Olivia?"

Olivia shakes her head. "No, I'm not. Thank you, Mrs... Lindsay."

Nodding, Lindsay smiles. "No problem. You can watch some TV but make sure you get all your homework done, girls."

"Come on," Casey says and the two head up the stairs.

They walk up the hallway and the closed door at the end is covered in band and singers posters and a name plate with Casey painted on it, which is stuck in the center of the door.

"Well, here's my room," Casey says and opens the door before they walk in.

Olivia gasps at what she sees.

There is a double bed set in the left hand corner of the pale pink and yellow painted room, a nightstand with a lamp and alarm right beside it, a chest of drawers on the opposite side, near the window. On the right hand side was her computer desk and chair with a laptop set on the top and her television, which was set perfectly, so she could watch it from on her bed.

"What? Isn't your room like this?"

Sighing, Olivia shakes her head. "All I have is a single bed, a nightstand with my lamp and alarm clock and a chest of drawers in my room," she confesses.

"Really?" Casey is shocked.

"Yeah," Olivia nods.

"Well that sucks," Casey replies as they sit on her bed. "Well...you want to sleep over this weekend? We'll have our own movie marathon."

Olivia smiles. "That would be great, thanks."


	3. Chapter 3

**Please read and review for more.**

**Disclaimer: Only own Eric.**

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Walking in to the apartment at 9:28PM, Olivia is not surprised to find it quiet and dark. Serena and her fiancé, Eric, are more probably still down at the bar and wouldn't be home for another hour or so.

Thankful that the Novaks had been kind enough to let her stay for dinner, Olivia heads straight to the bedroom for a quick shower, so she can wash away the long day.

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Stepping out of her bedroom in her pajamas, Olivia hears her mom and Eric stumble in to the apartment.

"Shit," she groans.

"Olivia, get your ass in here now!" Serena calls out, not noticing that Olivia is already standing in the living room doorway.

"Yes, mother?" Olivia sighs, knowing that she won't be going to bed anytime soon unfortunately.

"Make us some dinner," Serena orders.

"Nothing too greasy and don't think about just doing salad, like you did last time. Useless," Eric mutters the last word.

Biting her bottom lip and letting the word bounce off her, Olivia heads in to the kitchen to make dinner for Serena and Eric.

Looking through the fridge and cupboards to see what they had, which wasn't much since Serena still hadn't done the grocery shopping and won't give her money to do it, Olivia decides to cook them some spaghetti.

As she boils up some water, Olivia can hear Serena and Eric chatting amongst themselves. They are bitching to each other about her again.

Olivia sighs, trying to let the words bounce off her but this time it isn't quite working. A hurt tear falls from her right eye.

They have only physically hurt her once or twice but the emotional abuse gets gradually worse as times goes by.

"Hurry up with that damn food!" Serena yells angrily from the living room before muttering, "Useless."

"It's coming," Olivia calls back, trying to keep her voice even, so that they don't know that she is upset because they'd get a thrill out of her being upset.

Once the spaghetti and the sauce are ready, Olivia puts it in to two bowls and gives them to Serena and Eric. Neither say thank you. She heads straight for her bedroom and locks the door, so she can try sleep the night away.

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Olivia wakes up the next morning feeling a little under the weather but there is no way that she is staying home from school. She turns off the alarm clock and slowly gets up unenthusiastically to start the day.

Sighing, she grabs her school clothes before heading in to the bathroom to have a shower.

Once showered and dressed, Olivia heads toward the kitchen, brushing her long, silky, dark brown hair along the way.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Serena looks up from her breakfast. She has sobered up and is alone. Eric has already left for work already. "Morning, honey," she greets her daughter, pretending nothing happened the night before like she always does.

"Morning," she mutters and throws her hair brush on to the couch.

Serena stands up and asks, "Would you like me to make you some breakfast?"

"No," Olivia replies, shaking her head.

"What's wrong?" Serena furrows her brows in confusion.

Olivia is usually more vocal then this in the morning, even if it means she spends half of it arguing with Eric or Serena but this morning she is only muttering single word replies.

Olivia shrugs and goes about making herself a bowl of cereal, thankful that she doesn't have to clean up vomit before she could even eat breakfast this morning.

"No, stop," Serena gently orders and she steps behind her daughter and firmly but gently takes a hold of her hands to stop her movements but Olivia tries to break out of her mother's grip. "Olivia Marie Benson, stop," she orders again in her ear.

Sighing in defeat, Olivia stops fighting against Serena but doesn't make an attempt to turn around and face her though.

Serena turns her around instead and cups her face in her hands. "Baby, what is it?"

The pet name 'baby' causes Olivia to sob. Her mother hasn't called her 'baby' since way before Eric came in to the picture about three years ago. "Olivia, what is wrong?" Serena asks again, she isn't letting this going.

Olivia sighs and turns her face to look away from her mom, only for Serena to gently turn her face back.

"Olivia, talk to me, honey."

"You really want to know my honest answer?" Olivia asks and Serena's hand releases her face.

"Yes, Liv, I would like to know your honest answer," Serena answers. "Let's sit down, huh?"

Olivia nods and they both take a seat at the kitchen table. "Mom, I want you to quit drinking... and I want Eric gone," she informs her straight away, not wanting to beat around the bush.

Serena bits her bottom lip but doesn't seem too inclined to fulfill Olivia's requests.

"You know what? Forget it, mom," she says, getting up angrily, "I've basically been taking care of myself for years. You're not a mother when you're drinking. It's not my fault, don't hate me!" she cries and runs in to her bedroom.

Serena runs in to Olivia's room to see her grabbing her school bag. "How dare you speak to me like that, young lady! I sacrificed so much for you and this is how you repay me?!"

A tear falls from Olivia's eye as she shakes her head sadly. "What about me?! You make me cook your dinner and clean up your vomit! I basically look after you when it's supposed to be the other way around!" she sobs and grabs her bag before running toward the front door.

"Olivia, wait!" Serena calls, chasing her. She has just taken in to consideration what her daughter has just said.

Olivia ignores her mom and starts to run down the stairs, not wanting to wait for the elevator.

"Olivia Marie Benson, get back here!" Serena yells but when Olivia doesn't listen, Serena sighs and runs a hand through her hair and she heads back in to the apartment to finish getting ready for work.

* * *

Olivia finds herself jogging to Casey's house. She walks up the welcoming path and knocks on the front door.

The door opens revealing Mrs Novak standing at the door, dressed and ready for the day. "Hi, Olivia," she greets her before seeing the tears. "Aww, what's wrong, honey?" she asks and gives her a hug.

Shaking her head, Olivia smiles sadly. "Nothing, I just jogged here. Is Casey ready to go?"

"Not quite but come on in. She's upstairs in her bedroom, just knock on her bedroom door, just in case she's still getting dressed."

Olivia nods. "Thank you," she says and heads up the stairs.

Reaching Casey's bedroom door at the end of the hall, Olivia slowly lifts up her fist and knocks.

"Come in," Casey calls through the door.

Olivia slowly opens the door and walks in. "Hey," she greets her, trying to hide the fact that she is upset.

Casey looks up from tying her second sneaker, with a smile. "Hey. I didn't know we were going to walk to school this morning. Did you tell me yesterday? Did I forget?"

"No, no, it was a last minute decision this morning. I hope it's okay," she says softly, watching Casey slowly stand up and take the few steps to her desk.

Grabbing her backpack, Casey smiles. "Sure. It sounds like a great idea. Maybe we could walk together every morning, if you want to, of course."

Olivia smiles and nods. "Sounds like a great idea."

"Okay, cool. Let's go, huh?" Casey replies and walks out with Olivia close behind.

* * *

Halfway to school after mostly walking in silence, Casey decides enough is enough and stops Olivia.

"Casey, what are you doing?" Olivia askes furrowing her brows in confusion.

"I know that something is wrong, Olivia. Spit it out," Casey tells her firmly.

"Nothing is wrong," Olivia denies and looks down at her shoes with a sigh.

"Olivia, did your mom or her fiancé hurt you?"

Olivia looks up at Casey instantly and shakes her head. "No... I asked my mom to stop drinking and get rid of Eric."

"Okay... And what did she say?"

"Nothing. She didn't seem too inclined to do either one," Olivia replies, not sure whether to be angry or upset.

"Olivia, if your mom really loves you then she will stop drinking... And if you really mean the world to her then she will get rid of her sleezy fiancé."

Olivia scoffs. "Only time will tell, I guess. We better get to school before we're late," she replies and starts walking again.

Casey nods and falls back in step with Olivia. "You know what we forgot to do yesterday?"

"What?"

"To give each other our cell phone numbers. That way it's easier to keep in contact."

"Yeah," Olivia replies distantly. "I'm sorry I turned up like that."

"Nah, it's fine. You saved me from walking to school by myself," Casey assures her with a small laugh.

Just as Olivia went to reply, her cell phone started to vibrate and play her favourite song. It is Serena calling. Olivia groans and presses the answer button. "Yes, mother?"

"Come home, Olivia. We have some talking to do."

Olivia looks at Caseys and shakes her head, even though her mother can not see her. "No, I'm with a friend and nearly at school. I'll see you tonight, if you come home early enough from the bar... and sober enough," she says and hungs up.

"What's wrong?" Casey asks as Olivia put her cell back in her pants pocket.

"My mom wants me to go home and 'talk'," she says and uses her fingers for quotation marks.

"You should, Olivia."

Sighing, Olivia shakes her head. "No, she never wants to talk to me when I want to talk to her, so why should I drop everything for her?!" she snaps and speeds up.

Casey groans and speeds up to catch up with Olivia. "I'm sorry. I'm just trying to help," she apologizes.

"I know. I'm sorry for snapping."

Just as they reach the school gate, the bell rings.

"Shit, we better get to home group," Casey says as they rush toward the building.


End file.
